Amon Tobin - ISAM

[awepittance]

right now Eskmo and Amon Tobin seem to be going through all the motions of very heady psychedelic creative experimental music but without the actual ethos or soul behind what makes that kind of music great. It's beautifully done artistic taxidermy. The more i listen to either new album by them the more i am reminded of artists like BT

[Guest Hanratty]

right now Eskmo and Amon Tobin seem to be going through all the motions of very heady psychedelic creative experimental music but without the actual ethos or soul behind what makes that kind of music great. It's beautifully done artistic taxidermy. The more i listen to either new album by them the more i am reminded of artists like BT

 

 

how do you measure actual ethos and soul?

[Guest Lucy Faringold]

i am reminded of artists like BT

 

Maybe I'm having a brainfreeze but I can't think what BT could stand for. Help!?

[Guest illfly mandog]

i am reminded of artists like BT

Maybe I'm having a brainfreeze but I can't think what BT could stand for. Help!?

NO ONE ANSWER THIS PLEASE! Its for your own good, Lucy.

[awepittance]

right now Eskmo and Amon Tobin seem to be going through all the motions of very heady psychedelic creative experimental music but without the actual ethos or soul behind what makes that kind of music great. It's beautifully done artistic taxidermy. The more i listen to either new album by them the more i am reminded of artists like BT

 

 

how do you measure actual ethos and soul?

 

[o00o]

right now Eskmo and Amon Tobin seem to be going through all the motions of very heady psychedelic creative experimental music but without the actual ethos or soul behind what makes that kind of music great. It's beautifully done artistic taxidermy. The more i listen to either new album by them the more i am reminded of artists like BT

 

its the melodies. they are not going beyond a very save point of expression even so the arrangement is experimental

[encym]

I found it very difficult to listen to. Even though the production skills are top-notch, as always.

[Guest reyde_espana]

i realllyy liked it....

 

to me its more of a sorta AE textural album

[Guest Lube Saibot]

lol at "goto10" and "wobbles" in the same sentence

 

lol at frustration/vexation/intimidation leading to easy, convenient bashes via supposed "soullessness"

[kichiguy]

Not sure if this was linked here or not..

 

ISAM mix by Amon Tobin

[danshoebridge]

lol at frustration/vexation/intimidation leading to easy, convenient bashes via supposed "soullessness"

 

Don't assume that's the case for everyone - I've got no problem with a lot of 'intimidating' stuff. I also see the 'soulless' thing get thrown at a lot of records I really like.

 

I just don't think the album is a hugely successful example of 'experimental' music (though some tracks have grown on me a bit)

[Blir]

It's not that difficult though.. is it? Not like it's incomprehensible or anything, just doesn't conform to the same style every track.

[Guest Adam]

http://amontobinisam.com/

 

microsite launched.

 

also track-by-track commentary from Amon Tobin

 

http://soundcloud.com/amon-tobin/amon-tobin-isam

 

It's really nice to listen to the album while reading how was it done. Some very interesting ideas there.

[Mr12000]

anyone looking for jazzy brks should look elsewhere at this point or earlier : ). it's 2011 folks, welcome to the future. -Amon Tobin

 

lol @ people wanting Amon to stay put when he has so many fantastic new ideas and approaches.

[awepittance]

lol at frustration/vexation/intimidation leading to easy, convenient bashes via supposed "soullessness"

 

I actually thought my experimental music taxidermy quote was a lot better

[awepittance]

lol at "goto10" and "wobbles" in the same sentence

 

i'm lolling all the way to loops haunt's plugin chain on that one

[awepittance]

right now Eskmo and Amon Tobin seem to be going through all the motions of very heady psychedelic creative experimental music but without the actual ethos or soul behind what makes that kind of music great. It's beautifully done artistic taxidermy. The more i listen to either new album by them the more i am reminded of artists like BT

 

its the melodies. they are not going beyond a very save point of expression even so the arrangement is experimental

 

it's not the melodies, i mean i find most of the melodic stuff on here very good, for some reason and maybe it's because Amon Tobin's music was used in car commercials and it influenced the way car commercials choose their music, but there is a hint of saccharine in it that's very hard for me to describe, i'd try to break it down further but my goal is not to fill this thread with criticism. I also don't think Lube was using intimidating to mean 'difficult' as in hard to listen to music. ISAM is really not a hard album to listen to, and i don't think that's to its fault either. I would say it's a much easier listen than Foley Room. and yes i'm still having a love/hate relationship with this album

[Guest Lube Saibot]

lol at frustration/vexation/intimidation leading to easy, convenient bashes via supposed "soullessness"

 

I actually thought my experimental music taxidermy quote was a lot better

 

ok so after reading his fucking commentary on his own music i'm gonna have to give you this one, it is completely "soul-less" (or to keep with your polite alternative, "craftsy") in the sense that there doesn't seem to be any real emotion going into this album, he seems to have a surprisingly immature approach to music-making, his prime concerns seem to be sounding "weird" (or "like old broken instruments from the future" or whatever half-assed mission statement he made up on the spot) and using that continuum thingamajiggy.

 

Regardless, the music itself has an immediate emotional effect on me, so i can only assume he's on autopilot at this point? It's probably doing soundtracks, that's bound to emotionally deplete you simply via the huge amount of content needed.

 

but

[Guest Lube Saibot]

lol at "goto10" and "wobbles" in the same sentence

 

i'm lolling all the way to loops haunt's plugin chain on that one

 

you know as well as i do that this is complete bullshit. amon tobin's massive seniority about loops in the "iddumz" game aside, I'm sure after a career spanning two decades and umpteem releases will enable any man to go nuts with bass sound design. i mean, seriously, this is actually you saying that you think amon tobin aped loops haunt?

 

flol

 

i'll wire you five bucks if you spot me any sound in any track on ISAM that is even remotely a sound that loops did. also, any pattern, any musical phrase, any sort of arrangement, anything. if there's anything besides tobin that i hear on this album it's eskmo and noisia, and that's obviously because of all the recent collabing that's been going on between them and tobin.

 

and yes, i didn't mean "intimidating" as in "difficult", i mean it as in "likely to cause butt-hurt in aspirational sound designers with a grudge"

[Guest illfly mandog]

lol at frustration/vexation/intimidation leading to easy, convenient bashes via supposed "soullessness"

I actually thought my experimental music taxidermy quote was a lot better

ok so after reading his fucking commentary on his own music i'm gonna have to give you this one, it is completely "soul-less" (or to keep with your polite alternative, "craftsy") in the sense that there doesn't seem to be any real emotion going into this album, he seems to have a surprisingly immature approach to music-making, his prime concerns seem to be sounding "weird" (or "like old broken instruments from the future" or whatever half-assed mission statement he made up on the spot) and using that continuum thingamajiggy.Regardless, the music itself has an immediate emotional effect on me, so i can only assume he's on autopilot at this point? It's probably doing soundtracks, that's bound to emotionally deplete you simply via the huge amount of content needed.but

Because he didn't mention emotional relationships with the pieces means they don't exist? I am not speaking for Tobin, but its hard to get me to describe my music emotionally. One of my favorite things about instrumental(or at least mostly instrumental) music is the open ended feeling of it. I would prefer you come up with your own ideas about the emotional content.

More on point, I think this album is full of emotion. I would say movements within tracks move at a speed that very deliberately express an emotion or place. The patient pace of this album has been inspiring.

[awepittance]

lol at "goto10" and "wobbles" in the same sentence

 

i'm lolling all the way to loops haunt's plugin chain on that one

 

you know as well as i do that this is complete bullshit

 

flol

 

While clearly eskmo is an influence as well I think its undeniable amon was attempting a more richard devinerized loops haunt in that goto track, if u don't agree with me oh well but I believe it 100%, just like I do with the cliche of wonky arps :)

[Guest Adam]

I doubt Eskmo was an influence to Amon Tobin. Keep in mind that before Eskmo met Amon Tobin he was making dull and unoriginal breakbeat/dubstep/dance music. Amon Tobin was a huge influence to him and if not Amon I doubt we'd have Eskmo's new album as it is now.

[Guest tht tne]

i downloaded this album but i have better stuff to listen to if you know what i mean

[sidewinder]

I just ordered the limited edition CD, I'll grab the instant download at home this evening in order to hear it for the first time!

 

BTW how come the cover is a butterfly now? I was digging the wild cat (?) skull.

[Guest Lube Saibot]

lol at "goto10" and "wobbles" in the same sentence

 

i'm lolling all the way to loops haunt's plugin chain on that one

 

you know as well as i do that this is complete bullshit

 

flol

 

While clearly eskmo is an influence as well I think its undeniable amon was attempting a more richard devinerized loops haunt in that goto track, if u don't agree with me oh well but I believe it 100%, just like I do with the cliche of wonky arps :)

 

both eskmo and loops are people i would consider influenced by amon. never the other way around. i don't think loops, while a massive revelation to people in select groups (and for me as well), has made enough of a dent to register on amon's radar to be honest. what, a couple of EP's, and a couple of remixes? and all of a sudden he's a "formula" to be copied? nah man. if you remember i conceded on the wonky arps thing, but this time it's just a goatse-proportion stretch.

 

amon simply hung out with noisia and eskmo, and it came to him to "do dubstep" as a sort of avant-middle-age crisis, i guess. and if he was gonna "do dubstep", it was clear from the get-go (and from the eskamon/hey mr tree things) that his intention was to push the envelope, sonically, to the max.

 

i mean, that's amon, that's alwasy been amon, even in jazzy loops time, he likes to swing his dsp dick around, is that such a bad thing ultimately?

 

oh, and, fuck off tht.